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A Son of Greece or a Son of Tzion?

Zecharyah (Zechariah) 9:13 
“For I have bent Yehudah for Me as a bow, I have filled the bow with Ephrayim; and I will awaken your sons, Tzion, against your sons, Greece, and will make you as the sword of a mighty man.”

Prophetically, this passage is quite significant in the latter days.  However, as we are about to see, the understanding of that significance comes more into focus when we understand two particular words in this passage.

The first word we need to understand is the Hebrew word for “Greece,” which in this passage is יָוָן – “yavan.”  Yavan was the fourth son of Yaphet, one of the sons of Noach.  The root word יון means “mire.” 

The second word is the Hebrew word ציּוֹן – “Tzion,” one of the mountains upon which Jerusalem sits.  It is known in Scripture as the mountain of the King of Israel.  The meaning of Tzion is a “guiding pillar.”  It comes from the root ציה – “tzee-yah” which means “to wander in the wilderness.”

The increasing of our understanding of this passage begins when we compare the spelling of these two words – יון – ציון .  The reader will note that there is only one letter difference between the two words.  In fact, these two words are spelled exactly the same, only with ציון having the addition of a צ (tzadi) at the beginning of the word.  This is a classic play on words commonly found in Scripture.

The Hebrew letter צ stands for righteousness.  This letter points us in the right direction of gaining wisdom as it pertains to seeing the contrast between these two words.  Furthermore, ציון may also be the compound of ציה and אוֹן .  אוֹן means “to acquire.”  As is common when combining two words in Hebrew, letters are dropped that are not truly necessary.  In this case, the א (aleph) of the word און along with the ה (hey) of the word ציה are dropped in the combining of these two words.  Thus, we have ציון , a guiding pillar to those who are willing to look towards it, that is, it is acquired.  Otherwise, one is destined to wander in the wilderness.  Surely, those who do not acquire this guiding pillar are stuck in the mire.  Those are the sons of Yavan.

The significance of this is brought into focus when we consider this in light of the first part of this verse.  YHWH shall bend Yehudah as a bow and then fill that bow with Ephrayim in much the same way that an archer places an arrow in a bow in preparation to shoot the arrow from the bow.

Let us recall that YHWH scattered Ephrayim into all the nations of the world, thus making them יון Yavan.  However, there will come a time when He shall gather them out of the nations and they shall no longer see themselves as part of the nations.  They shall rightly see themselves as Ephrayim. 

Zecharyah (Zechariah) 10:9 
“And I will sow them among the peoples; and they shall remember Me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and shall return.”

Please note the process and the order in which this occurs.  In this verse, one finds three phases in this process.  First, they shall remember YHWH.  They shall discover who He is, and upon remembering who He is, (2) they shall come to life.  Only after remembering who YHWH is and then coming to life, will they be ready to (3) return to the land of our fathers.  It is this separation process of which this verse speaks, the separating of Ephrayim from out of the nations.  Before the separation, Ephrayim was a part of the nations because he had lost his identity.  In effect, Ephrayim was יון Yavan.  However, now he has begun to remember who YHWH is and so he has a guiding pillar upon which to look and be a guide for him.  Now he is alive and ready to return to the land. 

Thus, YHWH states in this verse that He “will awaken your sons,” that is, the sons of Tzion.

Presently, those sons of Tzion are in the midst of Yavan.  However, YHWH clearly tells us that there is a day coming, in the not so distant future, that He will bring out those sons from the nations (Yavan) and plant them once again in the land and there shall be so many of them that no room shall be found for them.

Zecharyah (Zechariah) 10:10 
“I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place shall not be found for them.”

These are the sons of ציון Tzion.  Once, they had been so completely unaware of who they were, that they were considered by all, including themselves, to be a part of יון Yavan.  However, now that YHWH has awakened them, they are no longer a part of יון Yavan, for they have now become a part of the sons of ציון Tzion.

Has YHWH awakened you to who you are?  Have you heard His call?  Have you responded to His call?  Have you responded to His call to come out of the nations?

Yirmeyah (Jeremiah) 50:8 
“Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he-goats before the flocks.”

YHWH has in these days sent out the call to awaken the sons of Tzion, the sons of Ephrayim.  Those who heed this call shall be brought back to the land YHWH promised to Avraham, Yitzchaq, and Ya’aqov, to the land of their fathers.

ABBA YHWH, we pray and ask that this be soon and in our day; in the name of Yeshua our Mashiach.  Amein.

Zerubbabel ben Emunah
www.onetorahforall.com
zerubbabel@onetorahforall.com

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